


Don't Eat Pine Needles

by Estirose



Category: Zero | Fatal Frame, Zero: Shisei no Koe | Fatal Frame III: The Tormented
Genre: Gen, Grief/Mourning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-07
Updated: 2020-09-07
Packaged: 2021-03-07 05:28:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26347876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Estirose/pseuds/Estirose
Summary: Miku knows she shouldn't be alone. But with what happened with Mafuyu, there's a lot to think about and nobody to talk to. But Mafuyu had made plans for this kind of thing and Miku finds out that she's not alone.
Relationships: Asou Yuu & Hinasaki Miku
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2
Collections: Press Start VI





	Don't Eat Pine Needles

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Rosencrantz](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rosencrantz/gifts).



> Fatal Frame III tells us that Yuu (and Rei) took Miku in after Mafuyu died in the first game but not much more than that, so I thought it would be interesting to cover that time right after the first game but way before the third.

Miku dragged herself out of bed. It was just her, now, and she had no idea how she was supposed to pay the rent or what she should even do. Getting out of bed was better than sleeping, better than dreams of Himuro and other places Mafuyu must have told her about to dream of them so vividly. It had only been three days since she'd left the cursed place, away from where Mafuyu had chosen to end his life to be with Kirie.

Three days, and she knew that her abilities had disappeared just as the spirits had. There had been ghosts in the neighborhood, passive spirits that had never bothered her but she hadn't been able to see anymore.

She knew that this wasn't the best place for her to be, but she wasn't sure of where to go. Outside seemed oppressive; outside meant people, and even if nobody said anything, she knew she would feel the stares of the people around her. She knew eventually others would question why a seventeen year old was living on her own, and where Mafuyu had gone. He had been the more sociable of the two of them, after all, and his absense would most certainly be noted.

The phone rang. Miku stared at it for a moment before hurrying over to get it. "Hinasaki," she said automatically.

"Oh, good morning Miku, is Mafuyu there?" Miku's mood brightened a little as she recognized the caller. Yuu Asou had been her brother's friend for a few years now and Miku liked him. She realized after a moment that she'd have to tell him something. There was part of her that wanted to lie, to tell him that everything was all right, that everything was normal. He hadn't called since before Mafuyu left to look for Takamine and the others.

"He's not," she answered. She took a deep breath. "It's... it's...." She realized she was sniffling, and not just a little bit, either. 

"Miku, are you okay?" Yuu's tone became concerned. "I can come over."

She didn't want him to come over, but he was maybe one of the few people who understood the sixth sense that she and Mafuyu had, would understand maybe what had happened. "Please."

The small place could be cleaned up easily enough before he arrived. Being a host would maybe make things easier. 

"I'll be over as soon as I can. Hold on, Miku." Yuu's voice was warm. Then he hung up, and it took Miku a moment to realize this and hang up her own phone. She set to cleaning as much as she could, so the place looked decent despite her neglect of the last few days. It wouldn't take Yuu that long - after all, even if they didn't really live that close, he did have a car.

She had just sat down when there was a knock on the door, and Yuu was there. "Thank you for coming," she said, a bit breathlessly.

"You didn't sound okay." He favored her with a sympathetic smile, as if he knew why she was suddenly alone, and why Mafuyu wasn't there. "I know Mafuyu's been gone for longer than we thought he would be, too."

"...Yeah." He'd been gone far too long when she'd left to find him. He had family. He had friends. He had people who cared about him.

And now he had given up his life for someone he barely knew. Which was very much Mafuyu, but she still seethed at the fact that he hadn't thought about those he left behind. Not just her, but Yuu and any other friends who cared about him.

"Can you tell me what happened?" Yuu asked. It was the question of a professional, in some ways, for Yuu researched folklore. But in other ways, it was in the tone of someone who cared.

"He's gone." She realized that her words were vague. "Dead. Inside Himuro Mansion." She couldn't prove it, she knew. She hadn't even really seen him die, just somehow known that the rocks that had fallen in that final chamber had caused his death. Maybe it was part of the last gasps of her ability, overloading in her trauma, that had allowed her to know for certain that he was gone. "I... I didn't see him die, but he couldn't have survived."

There wasn't a way back in. She'd tried the front door after the rumbling had stopped and the spirits had departed, and it was stuck. 

Yuu reached out and hugged her gently. "Sit down, Miku. Let me get us both something to drink." 

She should be getting him something to drink, she wanted to protest, but she found she had no energy to stop him so she sat down instead. He reappeared a few minutes later with some tea. She recognized it as the kind that both he and Mafuyu liked but she didn't particularly care for, but she'd never said anything about that and wasn't about to now. Yuu was doing her a kindness, after all.

"You don't like it?" Yuu asked, and she realized her distaste must have shown in her face.

"That doesn't matter," she said quickly. "I appreciate you making it for me. I should be making it for you. I know you and Mafuyu liked it."

"I'll make you a different tea. What do you like, Miku?" he asked. There was an unspoken diminutive at the end, a gentle one that she appreciated.

"Don't worry. I'll drink this one." Even if she found it too bitter for her tastes, she would not be the poor guest who demanded something other than what the host offered.

"Are you sure?" Yuu asked.

"You're supposed to be the guest here," she reminded him.

"And you just lost your brother," Yuu told her. "He wanted me to take care of you if something happened to him. He said that he knew he'd die young."

He had? It wasn't in the realm of impossible - Mafuyu had talked about what he was studying at times and had mentioned it - but it wasn't something that he'd mentioned specifically about himself. "He didn't tell me."

"With your parents gone, he didn't want to worry you in case he was right... or wrong." Yuu sipped at his tea. "He also knew you couldn't afford the rent if he disappeared, so he asked me to let you stay at my place if something happened to him." 

Mafuyu had been so prepared to die, Miku realized, that he made sure that something was in place when he did. It also explained why he was so willing to die with Kirie, and why Yuu hadn't immediately suggested that they call for a rescue crew. 

Sometimes being what she was, what Mafuyu had been, was both a blessing and a curse. Yuu had apparently believed Mafuyu and done what he asked, gotten ready to make a space for Miku when that time finally came.

"I can't," she confirmed. She was a teenager, and she had no job. "But I also can't just mooch off of you! I want to be able to pay you back!"

"My fiancee needs an assistant, how'd you like to work for her? Her name is Rei."

Oh yeah, Yuu was going to get married at some point. And he was still willing to take her in? On the other hand, it wouldn't be too terrible then, because maybe she'd get to take care of the kids and maybe Yuu's wife could work outside the home if she wanted. Miku had never taken care of children, but there was a first time for everything. And it wasn't like the kids would try to kill her like the ghost kids had.

"I guess I can do that." It was something. It was better than nothing. And she liked Yuu. She could live with this. It would be a a normal life, one without ghosts or the supernatural, other than Yuu's folklore work. She could live with that. "Can you help me break our lease? Move out?"

"Of course," Yuu said, and she knew that in the end that everything would be all right.


End file.
